A river view and good burgers

STOCKTON - The back door parking lot to Bob's at the Marina diner is filled with yachts anchored on the river.

Keith Reid

STOCKTON - The back door parking lot to Bob's at the Marina diner is filled with yachts anchored on the river.

The food inside, however, is far from the Champagne and caviar that one might think stereotypical of the yacht life.

This restaurant, now 30 years old, is home of the "Almost famous cheeseburger" and the '50s-style breakfast foods that put blood-pressure medication in high demand: eggs, omelettes, french toast, and bacon.

Did we mention bacon?

"What's set us apart is the quality of our product," said owner Bob Pierce, 69, who opened the joint in 1982 on Embarcadero Drive.

Pierce said his longtime employees have also been key contributors to the reason his restaurant has seen regular clientèle. One employee, Guy Wood, has been a cook at the restaurant for 25 years.

Wood is so attached to the restaurant he staged his own wedding there once upon a time.

"We have a long history here. You think about restaurants, most of them go through two or three owners over a period of time. Just the fact that Bob has owned this for 30 years is amazing in itself," Wood said.

Pierce has been a career restaurateur who opened one of the first five Marie Callender's restaurants in California. After owning another unsuccessful chain of diners, he settled down to focus on Bob's at the Marina.

"I worked day and night that first year to do $25,000 in sales. Now, we do $600,000 a year in sales. We've been real successful just making a great burger and a good breakfast."